Aerial views of the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy to the New Jersey coast on Oct. 30, 2012. Photo by U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Mark C. Olsen

In this month’s United in-flight magazine, there is a major expose on New Jersey, a state that one year ago was on the hearts and minds of citizens nationwide when images of destruction and hardship blanketed the airwaves.

Those images hit home particularly for me. I grew up in New York City (Washington Heights, Staten Island, Brooklyn), and some of my fondest memories involved the awesome beaches—hopping waves at Robert Moses Park, splashing around the sandbars of Jones Beach, or hanging out with college friends on the Jersey Shore or Atlantic City.

Hurricane Sandy inflicted damage at a level that few thought imaginable. But, not surprisingly, New Jersey pulled itself together. Rebuilding is happening, albeit it slowly in places, and as the expose captured, New Jersey’s dream to be a major manufacturing, education, and technological powerhouse has not been dampened.

Which makes it all the more perplexing as to why, Governor Christie, you have felt reluctance to publicly speak about the need to do all we can to prevent or reduce the intensity of future Hurricane Sandy’s by tackling the root cause of climate disruption: the warming of our planet.

I’m not naïve, I know it likely feels risky at a time when your colleagues in the Republican Party appear to be having a bit of an identity crisis on this issue. But what feels more risky, if I were in your shoes, is all you stand to lose or put in harm’s way because of inaction:

You have the 3rd busiest seaport in the nation, which is preparing for a major boom when the Panama Canal expansion project finishes in 2015.

Governor Christie, you have a rare opportunity to put New Jersey at the forefront of forging energy solutions for the future that reduce our carbon footprint. This can be part of your New Jersey legacy—and an opportunity your state is ripe to seize because you have in-house talent:

Your state is headquarters to 21 Fortune 500 companies many of which have a commitment to being environmentally responsible. Companies like Johnson & Johnson, which scored a 98.5 on Newsweek’s Green Ranking, have invested in making their business environmentally sustainable.

Business innovation is happening in your backyard, with leading institutions like NJ Institute of Technology training young professionals committed to high tech manufacturing for the future.

Bell Labs, part of a global energy consortium GreenTouch, is working to reduce carbon pollution by building more energy efficient internet and communications networks, that will likely be handling up to 70 times more traffic within the next seven years.

What we need now more than ever is lawmakers committed to finding workable solutions to climate change, propelled by what is morally right and economically smart. This leadership will earn you support and respect not just with citizens in your state, but with all of those who live outside your borders, share memories like the ones I hold, and are hungry for thoughtful and constructive leaders.

President Obama encourages students at Lorain County Community College. (LCCC/Jason Miller)

As further proof that community colleges have a big role to play in building capacity for green business and technology, 17 out of the 25 recipients of job training grants, awarded this month from the Department of Labor (DOL), list at least one community, vocational, or four-year school as a partner on their projects.

The Department of Labor, which is distributing $500 million of the stimulus package funds to various workforce projects in green fields, announced in January that a fifth of that money, split into chunks of $1.5 – 5 million, would go towards energy training partnerships. A key factor in the selection was collaboration: all recipients have at least half a dozen partners among local nonprofits, schools, employers, and workforce investment boards.

Bringing so many different groups together increases the odds of success, says Patrick McGuigan, executive director of The Providence Plan. His organization matches employers with apprentice training programs and the Community College of Rhode Island to help low- or unskilled workers earn the credentials necessary to work in energy-related fields.

It’s important to understand the needs of local firms, says McGuigan: “We have major employers here at Brown University, at Blue Cross/Blue Shield, who are moving forward to break ground on projects this spring. Increasingly, they’re committed to LEED-certified buildings, green technology, and they like that we’re creating a community-labor partnership that incorporates a new group of people.”

Even with the best information, however, there is a risk that more students will graduate than the market can accommodate, especially in a recession. McGuigan says, “It’s a little bit of a chicken-and-egg problem. There’s a dynamic where we might worry we’re training people for jobs we can’t promise exist, but on the other hand, new technology can’t grow without having qualified workers.”

Patricia Meeks, executive director of grants & compliance at Memphis Bioworks Foundation, which received a grant for almost $3 million, isn’t worried. “The collaboration is a significant piece of this grant.We’ve got about ten employers that are making solid projections on what they need. For example, we know of some solar projects that have been approved, and will need workers very soon.”

The Memphis Bioworks Foundation will be working with four community colleges to expand training programs for solar installation, biomass production, and sustainable design and construction in Arkansas and western Tennessee. Meeks says, “MidSouth Community college is the mentor in this group. They have received several Department of Labor grants before this, and have developed a model curriculum that they will be sharing with the other schools.” This curriculum will then be modified for the needs in each area. In western Tennessee and eastern Arkansas, that means a focus on biofuels and agriculture in addition to energy.

The president describes initiatives that are intended to give rise to a clean energy economy. (LCCC/Jason Miller)

But employers’ needs aren’t the only ones at play here. Regina Whitley, vice-president of marketing for the Memphis Bioworks Foundation, says that these jobs are intended to help dislocated or laid-off workers get job security and long-term access to employment. “These colleges are going to provide one-year, two-year degrees that are post-secondary. The training will help people attain skilled jobs that pay a living wage, a family-supporting income. ”

Like much of the stimulus funding, these grants are intended for immediate use, to get workers ready for employment as soon as possible. However, recipients hope they are the first step towards long-term economic revitalization and sustainable energy frameworks. Meeks, who imagines a pipeline for students leading from 18-month certificate programs to associate degrees to four-year colleges, calls this grant “Stage 1.”

Last week, speaking at Lorain County Community College in Elyria, OH, President Barack Obama encouraged students to educate themselves for new technologies. He had visited EMC Precision Manufacturing earlier in the day, and noted that stimulus funds made it possible for some of EMC’s workers to enroll in an intensive 6-month program after being laid off from other companies. Noting that federal funding was in part intended to help students like them, he said, “If you’re willing to take some tough and painful steps to make yourself more competitive, we’re willing to invest in your future.”

]]>http://blog.nwf.org/2010/01/green-workforce-training-funds/feed/048790College of the Atlantic Aims for the Triple Bottom Linehttp://blog.nwf.org/2008/08/college-of-the-atlantic-aims-for-the-triple-bottom-line/
http://blog.nwf.org/2008/08/college-of-the-atlantic-aims-for-the-triple-bottom-line/#respondThu, 28 Aug 2008 20:31:09 +0000http://blog.nwf.org/campusecology/?p=2356When businesses go green, they do it for reasons ranging from profit and good PR to reliable supply chains and genuine concern for the environment. Examples of individual companies taking action are plentiful at sites such as GreenBiz, Treehugger, and Sustainable Industries, which already provide lengthy job boards and updates on businesses going green.

College of the Atlantic recently announced a similar initiative, but with a difference: rather than an MBA, COA business students will earn an interdisciplinary degree in Human Ecology, but with a self-designed emphasis in business and economic studies. The program is designed for undergraduates, rather than Masters’ candidates.

Jay Friedlander, founding faculty member of this new business program, says, “One of the key things is that we want to not only talk about business theory and how to create a better world through business, but how to apply that theory. We’re talking to business people about how to integrate COA with what they’re doing, which would lead to students working that company on a marketing program, or its supply chain.”

Given that campuses account for a relatively small carbon footprint (universities are responsible for only about 5% of commercial sector building emissions in the US), perhaps their impact on national emissions are greater, if less measurable, when “soft” factors such as curriculum and job training are taken into account. Ken Hill, academic dean of the College of the Atlantic, says, “Businesses have arguably had some of the largest and most profound effects on the world’s natural and social environments. Because it is clear that certain practices associated with business need to be changed for the health of our planet and its inhabitants, we are focusing specifically on the green and socially responsible aspects of business.”

Although they are often met with groaning from the environmental community, programs by big business that are applied to the massive footprint of a corporation can result in large-scale change, such as Wal-Mart requiring its manufacturers to follow certain practices. Likewise, COA’s President, David Hales, hopes that the students’ “influence can extend beyond the raw numbers of tons of greenhouse gases reduced or cubic feet of solid waste avoided.”